Playing Time and Substitutions Policy

Cochrane Minor Basketball (CoMBA) Playing time and Substitutions Policy

Playing Time

CoMBA's encourages equal opportunity sport.  Equal play is always encouraged. 

U11 has 3 min shifts and all players shall play the same amount of time.  If there is an injury, mental or physical concern, or foul trouble this may result in unequal playing time.

For U13-U18, pending certain outcomes and opportunities during a game, especially with a running time clock, it can be difficult to keep the substitutions to an exact amount of time.  It is the expectation that all players will have playing time in each quarter of the game and each player will play a minimum of 16 minutes.  If there is an injury, mental or physical concern, or foul trouble this may result in unequal playing time.  If the score is within 10 points, the last 3 minutes of play can be used by the coach to develop a strategy by selecting certain players to play as long as all players have already played the minimum 16 minutes of required playing time.

Substitutions

All coaches will do full line/bench shifts.  If there are more than 10 players no player will double shift off other than in the circumstances listed above.  If there are 10 or less players on the bench the entire bench will shift on and off other than under the circumstances listed above.

If your team is playing in Division 1, 2, or 3 you can opt to submit a plan to the board to substitute in a different fashion as long as it is tracked in a simple format that parents and organizers can easily identify.  This format needs to be available to all parties at all times.  This plan will not be approved if it does not identify a clear format for reducing the potential for power indifferences within the team.